Social Influence 1.6- Dispositional explanation

Authoritarian Personality AO1

ADORNO et al (1950), believed that personality (dispositional) factors could be the explanation for obedience, rather than situational (environmental) factors. They proposed the idea of a authoritarian personality, where a person who shows this trait admired obedience and authority figures (more prone to obey).

ELMS and MILGRAM (1966), wanted to see whether the original participants in Milgram’s original study displayed this personality trait. The sample had 20 participants that administered the full 450 volts and 20 disobedient participants which refused to continue.

Procedure-

Each participant completed personality questionnaires, including Adorno’s F scale, to measure their level of authoritarian personality. They were also asked questions about their relationship with parents, and their relationship between the experimenter and learner during the original study.

Findings-

They found that the obedient participants scored higher on the F scale, when compared to those who were originally disobedient. It was found from the interviews that the obedient participants were not close to their fathers during childhood but admired the experimenter in the original study, which was the opposite to the disobedient participants.

Showing a higher level of authoritarian personality in people that obeyed during the study.